Altrusa’s 1st Annual Kids On Wheels event announced

Our Environmental Committee has been hard at work organizing a great new community event and contest!

Kids on Wheels Bike Rally
On September 19, a Kids on Wheels Bike Rally will be held at Jeans Westerner.  Kids and teens are invited to bring their bike to the event between 10 AM and 1 PM

• Register your bike with the City of Montrose Police Dept. (Altrusa will donate $1 fee for the first 100 participants).
• Bike maintenance clinics at 10, 11 and Noon. Work with experts from Jeans Westerner and The Sports Authority to service your bike.
• Bike safety clinics every half hour: Learn the rules of the road from Kiwanis experts.
• Free gift bag for completing maintenance & safety clinics donated by Altrusa, Kiwanis, and
Jeans Westerner (while supplies last).


Ride-a-Bike-to-School Challenge
Following the Bike Rally, a Challenge for Centennial and Columbine Middle Schools will run from September 21 through October 16. During this challenge period, every day that students ride a bike to school, their name will be entered in weekly drawings to win great prizes. Each Friday, a drawing will be held; one girl and one boy from each school will win a $25 gift card from The Sports Authority. On October 16, one bike challenger from each school will win a bike donated by Altrusa or Jeans Westerner!

View or Download the Bike Event Flyer (956 Kb PDF)

Montrose ASTRA Club wins 1st Place Service Award

MHS  ASTRA Board members Kassey Petschl and Sara Kuta are presented with a 1st Place trophy by ASTRA Chairperson Lori Michaels, and by Altrusa President Roberta Hoey.  Our local ASTRA club was recognized by Altrusa International for their service projects "Connecting Schools and School Children."

Our own Montrose High School ASTRA Club was honored with a First Place award by Altrusa International, Inc. for their outstanding service projects that benefited schools and school children locally and internationally.  Our local club has won this prestigious international award 5 times.

During the 2008-2009 year, ASTRA completed the following projects:

·      Student Scholarship Project – donated $500 to support scholarships for needy youth at Montrose High School to pay fees for elective classes such as, music, art, and sports.

·      Tandem Families –purchased Christmas presents for 30 needy area youth. The club shopped for and wrapped the presents.

·      Breast and Cervical Cancer – hosted a workshop about teen breast cancer and cervical cancer issues. Altrusans supplied brunch items and ASTRA advertised the event to high school students. This event tied into our participation and support of the Bosom Buddies Walk-Run.

·      Youth Experiencing Grief - served as coat checkers and servers for Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado’s benefit gala. The club “flocked” the event with 80 flamingos and donated all of their tips from coat checking to support the Youth in Grief program.

·      Nurturing Parenting Program - babysat infants and toddlers for 3.5 hours per week for 16 weeks for Hilltop’s Nurturing Parenting Class

·      International School Project – purchased school supplies to a remote primary school in the Himalayan region of Nepal.

·      Historic Colona School Project – acted as tour guides, sales clerks, and food servers at fundraising events for preserving the historic Colona School,

The Club’s projects connected ASTRA with schools and school children locally and internationally, and benefited our Montrose community.

ASTRA is a volunteer organization for young people, sponsored by local Altrusa Clubs.  There are over 100 ASTRA Clubs throughout the United States and in several other countries.  Altrusa of Montrose is extremely proud of our ASTRA club for their exceptional dedication to service!

A bit of history: Eleanor Roosevelt - Altrusa member

Altrusa has a history of selective recruitment of women leaders (and now men as well) in a range of professions.  Over the years since our start in 1917, there have been many successful Altrusans who have contributed to their local communities as well as worldwide.

Our best-known Altrusa member was Eleanor Roosevelt. An active member of the Altrusa Club of New York City, her profession was originally classified under "Furniture," because she was an owner of a factory.  Mrs. Roosevelt maintained her active interest in Altrusa on up to becoming First Lady when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. While FDR was Governor of New York, Eleanor helped organize the Altrusa Club of Albany by inviting prospects to dinner at the executive mansion to finalize plans with the national field representative; the documents were signed with the Governor’s pen in his private sitting room.

Source:  The Altrusa Tradition (revised 2005)

Youth Appreciation Day face painting

The line was long, and the children were patient waiting for their faces to be painted Saturday, Aug 15th at Youth Appreciation Day.

There were boats and trucks, snakes and spiders, ghosts and pirates requested by the boys. The girls wanted flowers and butterflies, kittens and stars, and hearts and rainbows.

Altrusa was represented by member June Estep as one of the painters, and as fast as all three painters could paint, the line continued for hours.

Altrusa of Montrose also provides financial backing for this annual event which is scheduled just before the young people in our community return to school at the end of each summer.

Altrusa of Montrose wins International Relations Award

Members of the International Relations committee hold the 1st Place certificate awarded by Altrusa International, Inc. in recognition of their projects emphasizing Himalayan empowerment through education in Nepal, Tibet, and Afghanistan.
Pictured are Rose Price, Carol Parker, Diane Winger, and Val Burnell.

Altrusa of Montrose was honored with a 1^st Place award for projects supporting education in Himalayan regions during the worldwide organization’s biennial convention held recently in Indianapolis, IN. The Dr. Nina Fay Calhoun International Relations Award was established to encourage and stimulate international relations, to create an awareness of other cultures and people of the world, and to recognize outstanding achievement in international relations by Altrusa clubs.

Our club’s winning projects were:

· Three Cups of Tea - Building Hope in Central Asia – We organized and sponsored four evening presentations at the library illuminating issues of literacy, culture, religion, gender and politics in Central Asia.

· Main in Motion - “If you read just ONE book…” – We loaned copies of Three Cups of Tea to anyone interested in reading it.

· Book Donations – We donated copies of the Young Reader’s edition of Three Cups of Tea and Listen to the Wind (both by Greg Mortenson) to all Montrose elementary and middle schools, plus the Montrose Library District

· Tibetan orphanage - In partnership with ASTRA, school supplies were provided to an impoverished school in remote Gorepani.

· Kiva micro-financing – We made several micro-loans to small groups in 3^rd world countries related to medical and educational needs.

Consider this: Altrusa International has clubs in more than 370 locations throughout the United States and nine other countries -- and our International projects were recognized, along with those of an Altrusa club in New Zealand, with this prestigious award!

Vietnam Moving Wall

On August 4, Randy Havens presented a program to Altrusa about the successful display of the Vietnam Moving Wall in Cerise Park in Montrose over Armed Forces Day weekend. Altrusa of Montrose was one of the financial sponsors which made it possible to bring this half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC to our town.

He reported that about 17,000 people visited the wall while it was displayed in Montrose. Because of donations from sponsors like Altrusa, students were able to be bussed from schools in Montrose, Olathe, Delta, and Cedaredge to view the wall and discuss its significance. On May 16, 2009 -- Armed Forces Day -- a Huey 'copter was flown in to Cerise Park, a 36 piece trumpet band played, and many other special events marked the occasion.

This fall, 13 Austrian Pines will be planted in the footprint where the wall was displayed, and benches and a memorial plaque for Veterans will be added as well.

Randy Havens, along with Gary and Nancy Johnston, received Extraordinary Citizen Awards for their roles in organizing the Vietnam Moving Wall. He showed a very moving slideshow set to music written about the wall to our Altrusa Club.

July 2009 Newsletter

The current issue of our local newsletter, ALTRUSUN, is available online:

July 2009, Volume 33, Issue 2 (358 Kb PDF)